Gadgetory

well Toyota's said they were going to take the car that is the Prius and turn it into the line of cars that will be called Prius let's see how they're doing as we drive the 2012 Prius V and check the tech so what is a Prius V well I think it's the Prius that most folks are going to end up buying to be honest you got a nice cargo box back here the second row as you can see spacious it's got a higher roofline here than a standard Prius and by the time you get to the front row it's basically standard Prius stuff but all this brings you a vehicle that doesn't print minivan although in honesty it's really kind of a mini mini mini van just palatable as a car would you look at it and say I can do a lot more with that now once you're back up here in the cockpit things are relatively familiar we've seen this Toyota head unit before this is the fancy one with a bigger screen you can see we've got the upgraded JBL audio more speakers and more importantly better amplification this sort of eyebrow display is one of the most advanced of the business you've got your power and charge indicator digital speedometer and then of course various sorts of mpg and other indications and of course this touchscreen can also default over to voice command which is pretty good on these Toyota systems the other way to control this head unit is via these rather elaborate controls on the steering wheel you've got a pad over here for audio and one over here for a variety of display trip computer and HVAC settings an interesting mix on the right bluetooth hands-free of course is on here as well as bluetooth streaming aux jack USB now these cars come in different trim levels - is the base for some reason three is the middle car that's the first one that includes Entune here under the apps button and then under that apps screen right there this is a way to get one app on your phone that brings five apps to the screen for the details on this make sure you check out our complete tour of this innovative new interface on CNET TV just type in in tune and the level three car also brings in navigation based on a hard drive and it also brings you satellite radio HD radio and HD radio iTunes tagging now you see we've got a nav screen here a color screen not every Prius V has that you got to step up to the top two trim levels for that but they all have an LCD for controlling vehicle functions and of course there's the level five car which is the top yeah I know they skipped a couple numbers that gets you this dual panoramic but fixed glass roof all that has are shades that move and that level five adds almost three thousand dollars to the level three car and then on top of that we have an advanced technology package that brings us the JBL high end audio a split screen nav system with a bigger LCD and all pre I go through this little dinky goofy little bejeweled knob right here reverse neutral drive brake is extra region for the battery and park is a separate button up here then you've got three drive mode buttons here evie makes it run electric all the time as much as it can eco makes it do the least fuel consumption possible and then power moves it into the performance range blending both sources for the best response under throttle all right now all Prius V's like all pre I have this Toyota hybrid synergy drive motor powertrain combination it's the big dog in the electrified car business now it's a 1.8 liter sidesaddle lean-burn atkinson cycle for couple of an electric motor 134 horse 105 foot pounds of torque then add eighty more horsepower from the electric motor and another 153 foot-pounds from that same motor for some good numbers well ok numbers it gets this 3400 pound car up to 60 in about 10 and a half seconds remember it's trying to sip fuel now those kind of numbers could move this vehicle more sharply but it's not programmed that way it's a Prius afterall instead of biases toward mpg 44 City 40 highway substantially lower than the smaller Prius but of course you're lugging a lot more around with this guy aren't the Prius driving experience as you can imagine is very familiar in this vehicle although I find the rides a little nicer I think it's got a couple hundred more pounds on the hoof dampens things out but all the noises it makes and the responsiveness you get our pure Prius visibility is really good though because you got a higher greenhouse a little bigger notch in the back where you're looking at it's just a little more pleasant car to drive all around the other thing I know driving any Prius of the current model year is twelve it's been a really good job of handling these power modes and getting them to operate in ways each one of them that is kind of grown-up and refined they aren't too silly they don't have herky-jerky distill them when you're in the power mode of the EEV mode everything kind of falls over very elegantly from one motor stage to another they've done a very good job on this okay here's the pricing of the Prius V and here's how I'd play it the base ride the level two cars 26:4 it's a little too sparked though go to the level three that rolls in in tune and some navigation now you got a great tech package without going broke this guy's like 37 because it's a level 5 has all the tech that's get a little too steep for me